Persistent When It Comes To Family
by GoldGuardian2418
Summary: When Rachel and Sasha get hurt and Salwa blames herself, the sisters and Shocks have to prove to the girl that they're not going to let her blame herself for what happened. Done as a request for guestsurprise. :)


**guestsurprise, who owns Salwa, Cassie, and Shocks, asked for this one. Here you go, Amiga! Enjoy! I only own Rachel, Sasha, and the Grant Mansion. Ben 10 belongs to Cartoon Network and Man of Action.**

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 **Persistent When It Comes To Family**

Rachel looked outside and noticed how beautiful the day was. It was perfect for a good walk. She had just put on her sneakers and stood up when she bumped into Rook and gasped before looking up at him just in time to get a kiss on the mouth. She giggled a little as she kissed him back. Sasha and Salwa came out of the living room and giggled a bit too. "Shall I reserve a room for you two?" Sasha said teasingly.

Rachel turned to look at her. "You and Whampire are worse than us," she teased back.

Said Vladat appeared beside Sasha. "I believe she might be right, my angel," he said as he kissed Sasha, who kissed him back.

Rachel smiled up at Rook. "I'm going to go for a walk," she said. "It's a beautiful day out."

He nodded and he and Whampire watched as Rachel headed out with Sasha and Salwa behind her.

Rachel was a bit concerned about walking so far away from the Mansion as the shield that protected her family from being tracked by their enemies only went for a few miles past the wrought-iron gate at the bottom of the hill where the Grant Mansion was and went into the forest for quite a ways, but not all of it, but as the Knights had been quiet for a bit, she began enjoying the day.

Sasha was also enjoying it and Salwa was skipping up to Rachel and back to Sasha, a huge smile on her face. Since they and the aliens had welcomed her with open arms, she had certainly been a bit happier than before, although she still worried about the Knights finding them.

Suddenly, the Knights came out from behind the trees, startling the three girls. "Well, it's our little weapon," said one.

Rachel and Sasha quickly became shields for Salwa. "She's not a weapon, aluminum brain!" said Rachel angrily.

"And you recovered from having your legs burned, Miss Jocklin, hmm?" asked another, referring to the time when Rachel and Four Arms had rescued Cassie from the Knights and Rachel had been badly injured when a laser had shot too close to her legs. Thankfully, she had only gotten burned and Frankenstrike and the others had nursed her back to health.

"So I can teach you soda cans another lesson!" Rachel said sternly.

The lead Knight then charged and Salwa quickly moved to protect Rachel and Sasha, who looked at each other and nodded. The older girl quickly sent out a telepathic call to the animals around them and her younger sister began controlling the plants and trees to attack the Knights.

The battle began heating up and Rachel wanted to call in backup, but she didn't want the Knights to find the Mansion and so called in more of the forest animals to help while Sasha kept using her plant powers. Salwa, seeing that her aunts were getting a bit tired, unleashed her full power and attacked ferociously, defending her aunts who suddenly cried out in pain.

A couple shots from stun guns had hit both Rachel and Sasha, dislocating one of Rachel's knees and dislocating one of Sasha's shoulders. Seeing that they were hurt, Salwa let out a scream and her fierce attack blew the Knights back and forced them to retreat before she grabbed both her aunts and flew back to the Mansion. "Help! Frankenstrike! Shocks! Whampire! Someone!" She called out.

Shocks heard her and, seeing both Rachel and Sasha hurt, he quickly took them from Salwa and raced to Frankenstrike's lab. Salwa, glad that her aunts were now being taken care of, felt tears run down her face. Because she still had the trackers the Knights had put into her long ago, she had led them right to Rachel and Sasha, although Frankenstrike had said the trackers had been neutralized. Looks like they hadn't been neutralized and now the sisters were injured.

"This is all my fault," Salwa said to herself. "I should have run away from here and refused to stay here."

She then decided that was it and so ran out the door and disappeared into the woods. "I won't return to the Mansion," she vowed to herself. "It's the only way to keep them from getting hurt."

More tears fell down her face as she headed farther away.

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Frankenstrike was able to put both Rachel's knee and Sasha's shoulder back into place and placed them both on bed rest for two days to let their bodies heal, which the two girls didn't argue or complain as they were hurting from that battle and the two days passed quickly.

Rachel had been concerned about Salwa and had asked the aliens if they had seen her, but they all hadn't seen her in two days and Shocks said the last time he saw her was when Salwa had been with them two days ago. That made the owner of the Grant mansion worried and Sasha was also worried.

It wasn't too long before a coyote came up to the mansion and howled. A bit startled at first but then hearing the message, Rachel went outside with the others watching to see what the coyote was doing at the Mansion.

Using her ability to talk to animals, Rachel listened to the coyote, who told her about a young girl who had been running after another battle with the Knights and was hurt. When Rachel asked how he knew to come to the Mansion and that she could understand him, he told her he had been watching the mansion for a bit as had the other animals and had seen the others too. Thanking him for telling her about Salwa, Rachel went back inside.

"Guys, from what that coyote told me, Salwa is being hunted by the Knights," she said.

"But why did she run away?" asked Sasha.

Shocksquatch, who was at the computers, played the security video and the two sisters saw Salwa fighting the Knights back away from Rachel and Sasha. "She was protecting us," said Rachel.

"She might have left because you two were hurt and she's trying to keep you safe," said Shocks.

Rachel shook her head. "We need to find her," she said. "Call Tetrax and ask him if he's almost here to Staybrook. Maybe he can get Salwa's location on his computers."

Shocksquatch called in the bounty hunter, who was just on the outskirts of Staybrook and agreed to look for Salwa. It didn't take him long to find her and send her coordinates to the Mansion. Before Rachel could grab her car keys, Shocks flew out the door and raced to find Salwa, returning five minutes later with the injured young girl in his arms and Frankenstrike instantly treated her for her wounds.

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For the rest of the week, Salwa noticed how the aliens were always asking how she was doing and giving her hugs and Rachel and Sasha were expressing concern. She wondered why they were worried about her.

"They got hurt because of me and they only think about me?" she asked herself. "Why would they be more concerned about me?"

"Because you not only got hurt, but you blamed yourself for the Knights hurting them," said Shocks as he came up to her. "That wasn't your fault."

"But they got hurt," Salwa said. "If I had been a bit smarter and gotten them to safety first…,"

"The Knights would have fired at you all the same and followed you to the Mansion and would have done a lot more than just hurting Rachel and Sasha," he said.

"He's right," said Rachel as she came out. "Not only that, Salwa, you're our niece."

"If you think we're going to blame you for the Knights hurting us and you're going to run away because you blame yourself, you're wrong," said Sasha gently as she came out too. "We're not letting you blame yourself or punish yourself for that."

"Why not? It is my fault," said Salwa.

"No, it's not," said Shocks firmly. "Now, either you stop blaming yourself, or I'll be forced to take drastic measures."

Salwa looked at them. "Why are you all so persistent?" she asked.

"That's how we are when it comes to family," said Rachel. "And to prove it to you…,"

She nodded to Shocks, who hugged Salwa and began tickling her, making her laugh and squirm, but the Conductoid was determined to make her laugh for a long time, as were Rachel and Sasha, who helped Shocks out with Sasha tickling Salwa's feet and Rachel tickled the girl's knees as Shocks began blowing huge raspberries into Salwa's neck while tickling her belly button too.

Salwa laughed and soon had tears in her eyes from laughing so hard and her aunts and uncle finally gave her a break. "So, still believe what happened what your fault?" Shocks asked.

Salwa shook her head and hugged him, surprising him. She then hugged Rachel and Sasha, who were equally surprised. "Thanks for showing me that family doesn't let you feel down for long," she said.

"Because a loving family is also persistent," said Rachel as she rubbed Salwa's back gently as the four of them headed for outside where the children who lived at the Mansion were playing tag, hide-and-seek, and swinging on the swings happily. The four joined in on the fun and Salwa smiled, seeing what she would have missed if she had stayed away from the Mansion.

It made her even more glad that her family was lovingly persistent about her being one of them and staying with them forever.

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 **GoldGuardian2418**


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